1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for overturning packaged editorial products, for association with a packaging line. Special promotion campaigns for specific products can involve combining them with usual editorial products such as newspapers, magazines, books or the like during their packaging within a plastic or paper material which encloses them.
2. Discussion of the Background
In those industries which produce or distribute the said editorial products, these latter are combined at the client's request with an additional gift object such as a book, compact disc, floppy disc, perfume etc., in the form of a product of totally different size to be distributed in accordance with a predetermined program. The added product or object has to cover about one half of the base product and have a relevant thickness within the finished package. This fact results in difficulty in stacking or superposing such finished products one on another. If stacked incorrectly, such packages are subject to breakage or deterioration, either in terms of the product itself or in terms of its containing wrapper (paper or film).
Special devices have been designed for associating the added product with the editorial product before packaging. The operation, which up to this point is automatic, then becomes more difficult. This is because when discharged by a conveyor, the thus packaged products are not easy to collect into stacks as in the case of products of constant thickness.
A stack formed by a usual conveyor for discharging packaged products having a variable thickness along their length is not homogeneous and is difficult to maintain upright and composed during its handling.
Consequently, a combined package in which at least one editorial product and a second added product of very different dimensions have been wrapped together has to be removed manually from the conveyor. This requirement increases costs and does not allow operation at high speed.
In this respect, stacks have to be gradually formed inside the containers as the products are removed with the conveyor associated with the packaging line, while taking account of this variable thickness.